Red
by Inamioly
Summary: Set in Sixth Year. Ginny is enlisted by the Order to protect Voldemort's new interest: a baby boy. And who will she share her new guardian duties with? Why, Draco Malfoy, of course. DMGW
1. Chapter 1

Ginny Weasley was, to put it mildly, confused. As she slid a very tired hand across her forehead and glanced around her dorm, the light snores of her friends only added to the chaos in her mind. What on earth…? A folded piece of paper lay on her bedside table, shining ever so subtly so as to attract her attention. In a strange mixture of sighing and yawning, she grabbed the letter addressed to her.

_Ms. Weasley,_

_I apologise in advance for the tardiness of these words, but time is of the essence. Could you, please, come meet me in Professor McGonagall's chambers as soon as you read this? Discretion is in order, as you might have already gathered._

_Thank you._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Not unlike the zombies she had seen in one of Hermione's movies, as her sleepiness-induced laziness slowly turned into a more alert state, she grabbed her robe from the chair by her bed and got up from the bed as quietly as she could. None of her friends even stirred in her sleep, and it was with a slight frown of envy at their comfortable sighs that she soundlessly walked into the Common Room and past the (highly outraged at the lateness of her request) Fat Lady.

In mere seconds, she found herself at Professor McGonagall's door. Before knocking, though, she felt the need to breathe in and out a few times; the whole situation was a bit too weird for her liking. I mean, it was well past three a.m. and she had been summoned to what appeared to be a very late (and secret?) meeting with quite a scary professor. Praying that she had done nothing wrong, she knocked. First tentatively, and then a bit more confidently. Yeah, she was a Gryffindor, after all.

As she heard footsteps coming towards the door, she bit her lip and smothered her presumably all-over-the-place hair. Really, how had she not remembered to comb it before…? Oh, right. The urgency.

An unsurprisingly put together Minerva McGonagall opened the door swiftly. "Oh, do come in, ."

"Thank you, Professor."

The Professor's chambers were dark and shadowy save for one single frail-looking candle in the corner. Ginny ignored the shiver that assaulted her spine, and instead squinted her eyes in order to better make out the two figures near the candle.

"Is that…?" No, it couldn't be.

"Please, take a sit, ." Dumbledore's voice resonated from the farther end of the room, and his silhouette became increasingly more visible to Ginny's incredibly tired eyes.

Professor McGonagall conjured a chair and the redhead mouthed a still stunned _thank you_. "Hum… Professor, what…?" How could she even phrase something she absolutely didn't understand?

"First things first: thank you for attending this meeting. I understand it might seem… unconventional, at best." Dumbledore chuckled lightly, and Ginny could have sworn she heard her Head of House snort.

"Oh, that's perfectly fine, sir…"

"I am truly glad you think so, because by the end of our conversation, you might not feel the same way. Contrary to what Minerva here thinks, I do know I will be asking a lot of you." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled playfully in Professor McGonagall's direction.

The Professor merely huffed. "Nonsense, Albus. I trust your judgement."

"You are too kind, my dear friend." He smiled. "But I do know you have some… reservations."

"Well, then, we should…" McGonagall simply avoided his intense stare. "I mean, the girl has classes tomorrow."

"Of course, of course. I shall speed this along. Draco, show yourself, please."

Ginny sucked in a breath as she saw Draco Malfoy's slim figure straightening itself from behind the table. He appeared to have been sitting on the floor (why on earth…?), covered by the shadows. Ginny felt McGonagall stiffen, and she would have laughed at her badly disguised discomfort had she herself not been feeling the exact same way.

The redhead had never really realized how tall Malfoy was. Indeed, as he stepped away from the shadows and into the light, she felt suddenly intimidated by his big figure. The candle managed to light his face in all the wrong places, making his face appear to be more angular than it really was. Contrary to what Ginny might have thought, though, the mere sight of him wasn't terrifying – or, at least, her instincts to draw her wand didn't kick in.

He looked almost… sad?

"Weasley." With a curt nod, he sat on a chair in front of her.

"M-Malfoy." She stuttered, glancing back and forth from Dumbledore to McGonagall.

"Now that we've put the pleasantries out of the way, I do believe we should go on to more pressing matters. Draco, would you like to do the honours, or should I?"

The blond merely shrugged, his eyes never leaving Ginny's, his forehead wrinkled and his lips thin and untrusting.

"Well, I shall start, then." Dumbedore smiled pleasantly, no doubt actively ignoring the tense atmosphere. "You see, Miss Weasley… may I call you Ginny, my dear?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Lovely girl." He acquiesced kindly. "Ginny, we need your help. And by we, I mean the Order. However, before I can begin filling you in on the details, I must go through what I believe to be a mere formality and inform you that what will be discussed here cannot ever leave this room."

Ginny could only nod at his grave tone. "You have my word."

"Very good." He signalled Professor McGonagall, who took a sit near where the Slytherin had previously been. "Draco here is in a bit of a predicament. You see, he, unbeknownst to the majority of the Order, and the entirety of his fellow Hogwarts' colleagues and family at home, has been working as a spy for our side. His reasons are for him to disclose, should he ever feel inclined to, and that is not what I called you here to discuss. We need you to do some undercover work."

"Undercover, sir?" She noticed Malfoy's increasing restlessness and fidgeting, his eyes always fleeing towards McGonagall.

"Yes, Ginny. Hum… Minerva, could you…?"

"No." Malfoy's voice echoed through the room. "I'll do it."

"Of course." Dumbledore nodded.

Malfoy stood up from his chair, rather clumsily for what Ginny was expecting, and knelt down beside McGonagall, who merely looked apprehensively at him. A soft sound was then heard coming from Malfoy's arms, and Ginny gasped as her now fully awake eyes fell upon a tiny, tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket.

"A baby…?"

Both Professors' gazes softened at the sight, but the Slytherin did not seem to notice, for he continued to walk towards his chair and proceeded to sit down. Ginny felt a whirlwind of emotions rush through her very confused mind, and she resisted the urge to stand up and go see the baby boy for herself. Instead, her gaze rested on Malfoy, who was looking nowhere but into the carefully wrapped blanket with a hard frown.

"Draco here has found himself guardian of this baby, and we need your help protecting him."

"My help? But, Professor, how can I possibly help? I have no experience whatsoever with babies, I'm afraid." She countered softly, still watching the blond from the corner of her eye.

"Although I cannot yet tell you the specifics – in part because I do not know them myself - , this child is in great danger, as his whereabouts are currently being sought after by Voldemort himself."

Draco flinched at the word and grunted into the darkness.

"Already? But sir, he's just a baby…"

"Indeed he is. As you know, however, that never seemed to stop Voldemort before."

Ginny sighed in agreement. "It would be an honour to help, but quite frankly I'm not seeing how."

"That's the beauty of our soon-to-be- arrangement. Professor McGonagall and I have been discussing this with Draco for two weeks now, and we've come to the conclusion that you are the best person to act as his guardian as of now."

At that, Ginny was stunned. Looking straight into Malfoy's eyes, who had finally decided to grace them with more than his mute presence, she found she could not really put her racing thoughts into words.

"M- Me…?"

"You." Malfoy simply stated.

"Oh my… But Professors… Malfoy, I really don't think I'm the most qualified-"

"You are, Weasley." He replied sharply. "Believe me when I tell you I would rather not place this responsibility on you, but pushing my personal feelings aside, and as cordially as I can muster, I must ask you to accept this task."

"Ms. Weasley, I'm sure your head is filled with questions – and quite valid ones at that - , but since we will most likely not be able to answer them anyway for right now, I must request that you embrace the courage I know lies in you very Gryffindor heart and embark in this journey as blindly as the rest of us." McGonagall smiled fondly, and, Ginny could almost swear, a little protectively. "Should you agree to help us, Mr. Malfoy will explain all the details at a more convenient time. Like tomorrow, after classes." She looked pointedly a Dumbledore, who merely chuckled apologetically.

"You know it was necessary to make this as secret a meeting as we possibly could, Minerva." Dumbledore said, sternly, to which the Professor solely replied with a disapproving nod.

Ginny's head was spinning with all the information. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think something like this would ever happen. But she did always say she wanted a more active part in fighting this war alongside her friends and family…

"Please."

Malfoy's pleading tone was what probably did it. She was sure she must have imagined it – attributing it to the exhaustion that was slowly catching up to her - , but it almost seemed as if Draco Malfoy was desperate. There was no evil glint in his eyes, no smirk framing his lips, no insults forming at the beginning of each sentence. Only the furrowed brows, the wrinkled forehead, and the hard frown heavy on his eyes reminded her of the stuck-up Slytherin prat that the all knew and loved – not.

"Okay. Okay."

"We cannot thank you enough, Ginny." Dumbledore smiled, sincerely. "Meet Professor McGonagall after classes, tomorrow, and she will inform you of the more practical aspects of this arrangement. In the meantime…"

Ginny saw Dumbledore glance sideways at Malfoy, who nodded, absentmindedly, and stood up. "Thank you, Weasley." He said, politely, and walked over to what the redhead now recognized as a cot. "Bye, you." She heard him whisper.

The next thing she heard was the door closing behind him.

_Bloody hell… what in Merlin's name is going on?_

**A/N: So, what did you guys think? What with it being the first chapter and all, I beg that you be all but too rash with me… It was an introductory chapter, and it will (hopefully) get better as the story progresses.**

**Please, leave a review, with either a suggestion, criticism (constructive! Please!) or an answer to my question, if you want:**

**What should I name the baby?**

**Thank you so much for reading. Kisses****


	2. Chapter 2

The following day was nothing short of weird. Bizarre, peculiar, odd, mindboggling. Despite the painfully full day, she had to compromise with her highly distracted brain and get it to actually pay attention in Transfiguration and Potions, leaving all the wondering and wandering to History of Magic and Divination. That left Care of Magical Creatures, but quite frankly she wouldn't dare being anything less than fully alert in that class.

After the puzzling and frustratingly secret meeting, she had not slept well – at all. Her mind was far too busy to rest dreamlessly, and she even recalled waking up at least two times following a nightmare.

Having spent the entire day assuring everyone she was just peachy – really, by the size of her grin, one would have expected Christmas to have arrived sooner, and in hindsight, Ginny should have probably toned it down a little in order to avoid questions... - , by the time McGonagall sent a first year to get her, she was more than ready to have some questions of her own answered.

"I do not have much time, Ms. Weasley. I'm sure your head is in need of a good explanation, but I'm afraid all I can give you for now is this letter. Destroy it after you've finished reading it."

And with that, McGonagall left her alone in her own chambers, with instructions to close the door after leaving.

Opening the letter, she started reading.

_Dear Ms. Weasley,_

_I will be brief and concise. Since you gave us our consent, I must ask you that your undercover assignment begin right after you read this. The baby is in need of a decent cover story, and you are the perfect person to provide it for him. Starting as of now, the official version is that you went to the Burrow today and found him in your grounds. After discussing it with your parents, and in light of the recent attacks in nearby towns, you all came to the same conclusion: until a permanent solution is found, and since the circumstances around his appearance were, at best, suspicious, he is better protected at Hogwarts. You, being the one that found him, are his self-appointed guardian._

_This will have to be done as faultlessly as possible. We do not know all the details as of yet, but the baby's life is in great danger – that we are certain of._

_Now, on to 's part. It would be highly unlikely that you two suddenly formed a friendship over the little one. Consequently, and because, understandably, Mr. Malfoy wishes not to be kept away from the baby, he will protect you both from a distance. Make no mistake: there will be people at Hogwarts who wish him harm. You have to be vigilant at all times._

_Your sleeping arrangements will also differ from those you have now. Being a Sixth Year, you are allowed certain privileges, but none of them include a room of your own. That was in the past. I, with the help of Professor McGonagall, have turned an old classroom into a dorm of sorts. You will be given two rooms, one living-room and one bathroom._

_In order not to attract attentions, Mr. Malfoy will continue to spend the nights in the dungeons, but one of the rooms in your new dorm will be for him, should he ever wish to make a change._

_Without much more to discuss, I must ask that you follow the map I enclosed in this letter. It will lead you to your new dorm. Hopefully, this situation will not prolong itself much longer._

_Thank you for everything. Never forget: my door is always open._

_Albus Dumbledore_

HPHPHP

Ginny eyed the living-room before her in awe. It truly looked cosy. There was a fireplace – fire already burning, the heat spreading through the room - , one long table, two couches and one armchair. The walls were painted in a dark red, which only added to the homey feeling that warmed her cheeks and almost made her smile.

If she had to go through so many changes so fast, at least she would do it as comfortably as possible. She smiled warmly at the thought of Dumbledore, who had obviously put much thought into the living arrangements.

The whole situation was shady, and a little too confusing for her to be completely okay with it. Her desire to be of use to the order overpowered whatever feeling of uneasiness that came over her, but it still didn't mean she was completely okay with it. She had had no time to talk to her friends about not being in their dorm anymore, and she was sure that that particular piece of news was sure to spread around the school faster than she could say Hypogriff. Ron and Harry… _Oh, God_, she groaned internally. Those two could be maddeningly overprotective when they set their minds to it, and she was sure this situation qualified as one that needed some protective measures.

"You're here."

She jumped, startled, and turned around to face a very composed Draco Malfoy. Her thoughts went instantly to her wand. Old habits die hard, after all. However, not unlike that one time in McGonagall's chambers, the Slytherin prince did not inspire murdering thoughts on her behalf. His even tone just echoed throughout the living-room. He was indeed guarded, suspicious, defiant, even, but there was no trace of the threatening glint she had grown accustomed to seeing in his eyes. It baffled her, really. There was not a single wrinkle in his robes, and his hair had not a strand out of place. His arms were holding the bundled baby, and Ginny couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight. Yes, give a guy a baby, and even the most ferocious Death Eater will receive some silent giggling and delighted cooing.

"Yep. I'm here."

"Good. I had to be going now, anyway."

Ginny nodded, distracted, her eyes falling curiously on the little boy. "Do you have… any instructions for me?"

"His bottle is in your room. I took the liberty of setting up his cot beside your bed, so as to facilitate your nights. He still wakes up quite a lot."

"Oh." Ginny blinked, somewhat confused. She didn't know what confused her the most, though: either it was his whole indifferent demeanour, or the fact that she could nonetheless hear a kind undertone to his cold words. "How old… Wait, what's his name? Honestly, Malfoy, that's the kind of information I need right now. I can't go around calling him baby forever." She whined, and he rolled his eyes.

"His name is Benjamin. I call him Ben. You may call him what you wish." He shrugged, nonchalant. "He will be three months old next Sunday. Don't-" He added sharply as she started to ask something. "Don't ask me anything else. You'll only be disappointed, for I can't tell you any of it yet."

The redhead raised an eyebrow at him. "That's unfair."

"Life's unfair, Weasley."

Ginny sighed. "So, what else do I need to know?"

Before Malfoy could answer, though, little Benjamin whimpered softly, and the Slytherin quickly turned around and headed for Ginny's room. "There you go." He sat on her bed and rested a small light orange blanket on the baby's cheek, who immediately calmed down.

The whole atmosphere appeared to slow down as Ginny patiently took in the scene before her eyes, leaning against the doorframe as quietly as she could. She could hear Malfoy whisper continuously to the little boy, rocking him gently in his arms, chuckling at the tiny gurgle the baby sent his way. Frowning slightly, she wondered if he'd forgotten she was there.

"What can I do?" Her soft whisper caught his attention, but barely.

Malfoy didn't answer right away. He seemed torn between facing her, as politeness demanded, and keeping his focus on Benjamin. "He needs to be fed every five hours. There's powdered milk and bottles in that cabinet. He likes it warm, but be careful not to overheat it. A simple heating charm will do the trick." He eyed Ginny briefly, who nodded in understanding. "He gets restless right after he eats, but usually calms down if you place this blanket near his cheek."

"Sure." Ginny smiled, but Malfoy didn't even blink.

"You will take him to class. He's usually a quiet baby, so you shouldn't have problems on that front. Be on alert at all times. I will always be nearby, but you shouldn't lay down your guard. I might not be here to protect you someday."

"Malfoy…" It all was beginning to sound a bit too real for her taste.

"And now I have to go." He abruptly stood up and walked swiftly towards her. "Here, hold him." He gently placed the baby in her arms, his kindness clashing soundly with the hard frown on his face. He never once looked her in the eyes. "See you later, Ben."

And with that, he left her alone, once more, a baby in her arms, an empty dorm and a very, very busy mind.

**A/N: So, I thought I'd update today, so as to give you a feeling of the story. I hope you keep reading and enjoying it :D**

**Once again, please leave your thoughts in a review, so I can see what y'all are thinking, hihi.**

**Kisses*****

_**Next: Ginny's first night and day with little Ben.**_


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